1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data protection management in computing systems. More particularly the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for assessing the quality of an information recovery process.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The importance of backing up data and keeping it safe and easily retrievable has never been more obvious. As corporate data continues to grow exponentially, losing access to critical data for even just an hour can cost a company million of dollars. Lately, a plurality of more stringent rules and regulations have been disclosed that are requiring companies to keep accessible copies of their electronic records, including electronic mail (e-mail) and Instant Messaging (IM), for as long as twenty years.
Since the beginning of computing, companies have been protecting their most valuable data by backing it up in a regular manner. The traditional focus has been on the basic backing up of the data and the associated storage thereof. Presently the focus is increasingly on the ability of a company to restore the backed up data, in a reliable, rapid, and accurate manner. Although presently, several technologies exist for rapid recovery, the real issue of reliable and accurate recovery is yet not sufficiently addressed.
Today, Information Technology (IT) routinely deals with distributed, complex, and dynamic computer networks to which frequent updates are applied on the daily basis. The responsibilities for protecting data by backing up the multitude of objects constituting the networks are typically spread out among several IT managers and the data protection process may be performed by the utilization of diverse data protection software, data protection scripts and external data protection schedulers. Surveys indicate that the majority of the managers are not sufficiently confident concerning the quality of the data protection processes used. The information regarding which portions of the operational data were actually saved and which portions were ignored or skipped during a data protection process performed via the utilization of commercial off-the-shelf data protection software, is woefully inadequate. Thus, users are unpleasantly surprised when they find out all too frequently that data is missing during a critical recovery process. The problem exists as a result of the current aspects of the existing data protection software. Presently, data protection technologies typically focus on the data protection process rather than the recovery process, although it is widely realized that “protecting the data by backing up” is only the means for the real objective of “recovering the data”.
It would be easily perceived by one with ordinary skills in the art that a new apparatus and method is needed that focuses on the problem of “what cannot actually be recovered” versus “what wasn't protected correctly”.